Difference Between Donkey and Mule
Difference between donkey and the mule is an interesting thing to know as they are both very attached as well as a lot different from each other. About 44 million mules and donkeys are there in the world and they serve as efficient animals for recreation and work. They both are mammals equine, meaning similar to the horse. These herbivorous grazers are much alike in appearance with odd number of toes in each foot. So they are called odd-toed ungulates or perissodactyla. The field of genetics in biology is helpful in determining difference between donkeys and mules. Mule is a result of mixing of genes of two species of equidae to form a new species. The interest in watching the donkey and the mule is higher due to these reasons.
Donkey
The donkey’s which are also called ass, are diverse in size and different race have different sizes. Height of wither (the ridge between the shoulders) ranges between 80 and 160 centimeters and weight could be between 100 and 400 kg for an adult. Donkeys prefer to live alone and not in herds in the wild. They grumble box (known as pitch) to communicate with each other. The female donkey is known as Jenny and the male is called Jack. The donkeys live for long( 30-50 years) and they are pets for the families in many cases and as pets they have active contribution in working as well as carrying of loads.
Mule
A mule is produced by crossing a female horse with a male donkey, sexuallly. Since the numbers of chromosomes are different in horses (64) and donkeys (62), mullet hybrid ensued receives 63 chromosomes. Since these genes from the mother and father are not the same species, they are not compatible. Therefore the mules are not able to produce their own offspring or in other words, they do not become parents. Color, shape and weight vary from one mule to another. Sometimes the weight of a mule can be 20 kg while some may weigh up to 500 kg. The voice of mules is a combination of both horse and the donkey, apparently beginning with a whinny and a hee-haw at the end. The mule is considered more intelligent than donkeys and lives long as a horse. They are more important in transporting cargo, especially in remote areas without roads (the wilderness) and mules were also used in the war in Afghanistan by the U.S. military.
Donkey against the Mulet
Both animals are very much related and have similar aspects in their particular uses and also to the man. Both are animals that help humans in working, however, wild donkeys do not work for the humans. Donkeys or mules are not ruminants of deer and livestock. The difference between the sounds of donkeys and mules is obvious. Also the variation of magnitude of mules is higher and the life is low, whereas in donkeys, life is higher but the variations in magnitude are relatively lower. Both donkeys and mules are friends with humans as they are partners in work. The donkeys have been found in Egyptian paintings of the years 1200 BC and also in ancient Greek rhytons those dating from 440 BC, representing the long relation of men and donkeys for work.